Autumn Apples
by Atlantic Sample
Summary: Cade, if you try hard enough. One-shot.


**Look, everyone! I made a Victorious one-shot!**

**Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. Shocking, I know!**

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><p>"Please, can I stay the night?" Cat begs, putting on her best pout.<p>

The broody brunette was not having it, not even gratifying the ruby haired girl with a glance. "I'm not falling for that," she states bluntly.

"Okay, well can we at least do something fun together before I leave?" the short girl requests, turning the amplitude up on the quivering of her bottom lip, hoping that even though Jade wasn't looking, she'd be able to feel it.

Jade accosts Cat with a habitual glare. "If you stop that, yes."

Cat's smile resurfaces instantly. "Yay!" She bolts up from Jade's large canopy bed and skips to the door, before halting abruptly and turning to look at the dark haired girl still sitting on the bed. "Well, aren't you coming?" Cat questions impatiently.

Jade resists the smile that tugs at the corner of her lips at the way that Cat almost appeared genuinely annoyed, hands on her hips and her eyebrows pulled ever so slightly towards the bridge of her nose. "Where?" Jade questions, folding her arms over her chest when the word didn't come out quite as terse as she had hoped it would.

"Outside to pick apples!" Cat announces with an excited glint in her eyes. Jade wanted to narrow her eyes, to ask when exactly she had told Cat that she was allowed to choose the activity, but she simply couldn't bring herself to take away the excitement in the younger girl's eyes.

"Oh," is all Jade says, standing from her bed and joining Cat by the doorway of her room. "I was getting hungry anyway."

Cat doesn't say another word, settling for walking through the door and bounding excitedly down the stairs.

Out in the yard, there is a pile of leaves freshly raked that morning. The color scheme has shifted from green to various hues of yellow and red. Near the shed was an apple tree, brimming with red fruit ready to be picked and eaten. The tree was perhaps as old as the house itself, its thick dark colored bark aged from many seasons passing it by.

Jade had given Cat the basket to hold and the redhead was doing twirls in the center of the yard while holding it above her head with both hands. The ruby haired girl's white and pink sundress danced around her in a halo. In wake of the childish display, Jade found herself unable to unleash her sharp tongue to reprimand Cat for being so silly, for wasting time when she had suggested they come out to pick apples in the first place. Jade did not want to complain. She just wanted to watch, humbled by the display of carefree happiness. She found the sight breathtaking in a way, but it was just Cat.

It always came down to just Cat.

Slowly, Cat winds down and stops spinning. "I'm dizzy," she declares before giggling and falling down onto her rear end. "That was fun," she informs Jade, accepting her friend's outstretched hand and standing to her feet.

"Glad to hear it," Jade comments, but it doesn't come out quite right. It was like the sarcasm didn't activate in time before the words left her mouth. They sounded genuine, almost.

"My brother says that he can hear dead owls."

Jade stares at Cat blankly for a beat. "Right, let's just pick some apples." Jade can't keep the smile off of her lips when she hears Cat's melodic laughter.

After filling the basket with the best apples on the tree that they could find and talking about a million different topics via Cat's sporadic conversation style, the two head inside to enjoy some of their harvest.

"It tastes like the fall," Cat says after her first bite.

"What does that even mean?" Jade asks, narrowing her eyes at Cat, but there's a small smile on her lips.

The shorter girl smiles and shrugs, and they continue to eat in silence for some time.

"Jade?" Cat questions, looking up at the dark haired goth. Jade arches a slender brow in response as she chews. Cat smiles before she speaks again. "Thanks."

Jade tries not to let her smile expand. "Don't mention it." A few moments pass. "Cat?"

Cat perks up at hearing her name. "Yes?"

"Would you like to stay the night?"

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><p><strong>Short, I know, but I'm new at this :P Review if you liked it, and I might consider another Victorious piece. I might even consider making a sequel to this one. Just saying.<strong>


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